News : Economy

INU- Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani admitted on Monday that Iran is currently facing "chronic challenges" that existed long before US sanctions were reimposed, including a water crisis and a "big, costly government".

He said at a press conference: "External factors do affect our economy, but there are problems persisting from before."He explained that the challenges, including a large, expensive government, high-interest rates that "disrupt production", cash-strapped pension funds, and a water crisis, were "repeatedly warned" about by the parliament's research centre, but the government has not responded.

Of course, the US’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions has definitely made an impact, with inflation, unemployment, and poverty rising significantly during 2018. Now, the International Monetary Fund estimates a 1.5% drop in Iran’s GDP for 2018 and a 3.6% drop in 2019, largely due to the significant drop in oil revenue because of the sanctions.

However, it’s important to remember that the Iranian people are not the target of these sanctions and the Iranian Regime could well alleviate all of these economic problems by stopping their funding of terrorist groups and missile development, diverting the billions wasted there to create jobs for the Iranian people. The Regime could even come back to the negotiating table with Trump and work out a new deal, but they won’t.

Larijani ruled out the potential for talks, claiming that Iran doesn’t trust the US. The Regime also tested a ballistic missile on Saturday, in violation of the UN resolution that enshrines the nuclear deal that Iran is still a party to. Iran claims that its missile programme is defensive, but it's important to note that they tested it at a time when there are increased military tensions in the area.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the launch of a missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, which could have struck some parts of Europe and anywhere in the Middle East.

He said: “As we have been warning for some time, Iran’s missile testing and missile proliferation is growing. We are accumulating risk of escalation in the region if we fail to restore deterrence. We condemn these activities, and call upon Iran to cease immediately all activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

So, we have a Regime that admits to problems and knows how to fix them but does not. Where does that leave the Iranian people? Simply, the Iranian people know that the only way to improve their lives is to get rid of the mullahs, so they are begging the rest of the world to get tough on the Regime. More sanctions will mean less money that the Regime can spend on it malign abuses, including of the Iranian people, allowing the people to rise up and overthrow the cruel mullahs. That is their only desire.